Wounded Knee

One of the more sobering moments of the trip occurred when we visited the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre.  The horrific event took place in 1890 when members of the US 7th Calvary opened fire on unarmed Indians from a couple of Lakota tribes.  In a manner of moments, scores of men, women and children died.  Once considered the last battle between US soldiers and American Indians, what took place at Wounded Knee is now more properly designated a massacre. 

Because Wounded Knee is close to the current home of Re-member, we passed the site everyday.  There is considerable road construction going on in that sacred valley and we spent a lot of time idling there and awaiting our turn.  The earliest pictures that were taken after the massacre show us some unforgettable images.  In one famous photograph, Big Foot’s body is frozen and contorted in the snow.  In another, a mass grave has been dug and white soldiers and civilians stand nearby looking at their achievement.  One guy can be seen urinating on the bodies.  Other eyewitness reports and photographs show the bodies of the Indians desecrated with parts of the body removed for souvenirs. 

While at Re-member I made a second stop at Wounded Knee and climbed the hill to the cemetery.  As soon as Sydney and I parked, I spotted three small girls racing up the hill to meet us there.  They had been playing off in the distance when they saw us park.  Our different paths converged at the entrance to the cemetery and I knew they came bearing crafts for sale.  It was sweet to watch.  They were sitting down and before we walked past them, I heard the older girl say to her younger sister in a soft whisper, “Not now.  Wait.”  They let us pay our respects in the cemetery and waited for us to exit.  I asked, “Did you all make some necklaces?”  And, of course, they had.  They showed off their collection of simple, beaded jewelry.  I thought of my own daughters back home and of the incredible hardships of life here on the rez. 

One of the other sad stories we heard at Wounded Knee was about a little girl named Lost Bird.  She survived the massacre on that cold December day in 1890.  Four days later, she was found alive in the bosom of her mother, who had already died.  She was adopted by white culture and raised in the home of a US general named Leonard Colby.  After a hard life of illness and poverty and alienation from her people, she died in 1919.  She was buried in California before her remains were transferred to Wounded Knee Cemetery in 1991. 

In Help’s Way

Often times we find ourselves in harm’s way.  This past week I was struck by how people put themselves in help’s way.  That is, people find opportunities to help someone out, especially when it is uncomfortable to do so.  Take Tiffany and Maddie for instance.  While we were putting up plywood skirting around the trailer, we needed someone small to go underneath the trailer to hang insulation.  Because the wind was fairly wicked the day we were working, we had to change our process for skirting the trailer.  Tiffany and Maddie spent a good deal of time bending their bodies into the small confines of a crawl space.  With each sheet of plywood we put up, they would lose more and more light.  They volunteered for the unenviable assignment and worked in a cramped space so the owners of the trailer could have some warmth against those bitterly cold Dakota winds.  Rebecca joined in the work, offering to assist Tiffany in one of the lower levels of Dante’s Inferno. I would walk past their work zone and hear the pounding of their hammers.  And they kept at it, without complaint.  We nominated them for a PhD, which on the reservation, means a “post-hole digger”, someone doing a difficult job.  Their hard work and willing spirit left a positive impression on all of us. 

Wisdom from the Elders

Each day at Re-member, we had a learning session called Wisdom from the Elders.  Twice a day, at morning and at night, we would listen to a speaker share with us the accumulated insights of many generations.  Ted Skantze, the director of Re-member, would read us some selections from Indian writings.  In the evening, guest speakers from the Oglala Lakota Nation would speak about life on the rez.  Here are just a few gems from the many notes I took:

“The only way you can know someone truly, if that can even be done, if if you listen.  The only way you can get at their story is if they first give it.  The only we can have someone’s story is we are first concerned not to tell it.” (Ted Skantze)

“I’d like to tell you a story because that’s how I know who I am.  That’s how my relatives know who I am.” (Keith Janis, “Quiet Spirit”)

Keith Janis learned from his grandmother “to listen with a loving ear.”  “Even if there was a hundred people, she would listen until the last person spoke.”

“We sit outside in the Badlands to listen to the silence and discover how noisy Mother Nature is.” (Jerry Bottger)

“This life is very hard but this life is sacred.” (Will Peters)

“You have to have a strong heart because it’s going to break over and over.  If you’re going to live here you’re going to cry a thousand tears and I don’t trust a man who doesn’t cry.” (Will Peters)

“If people are so fond of wars, then declare a war on poverty.” (Will Peters)

“whatever you dream in life, walk in that dream” (Will Peters)

“I encourage you to sit down among the old people and get off your computer and listen to them.  They are a lot more interactive than point and click.” (Will Peters)

“The most powerful thing you can do for someone is to pray for them.” (Will Peters)

“I am financially embarrassed by my bank account but I wake up each day as a sacred man.” (Will Peters)

“There are certain things you cannot own unless you share.”

“This place is like throwing a bunch of spaghetti on the floor and trying to find the noodle that is broken in half.” (Paula Sibal)

“underneath the cover of poverty is the true beauty of our people.” (guide at Red Cloud Indian School)

Working for a Better Tomorrow

Our group spent at week with Re-member, an organization that has been serving the Oglala Lakota Nation for fourteen years.  Re-member hosts various groups throughout the year in an intensive cultural immersion program.  While there, participants also do various work projects.  While we were there, we built bunk beds for families on the rez.  We also built outhouses and skirted a new FEMA trailer that was relocated from New Orleans.  Back at the lodge, we took turns prepping the food and cleaning up.  Here are a few pictures of our group:

Rappin’ on the Rez

Just as there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to tell a story.  Madeline Ortego, one of the William Woods students who traveled with us to Pine Ridge Reservation, shares some of her reflections in rap. She did this once before, surprising the travelers to Italy by rappin’ her impressions while we were on the bus.  Her latest creation, took place at Re-member’s main facility.  Our last evening there, we shared with each other the gifts we took away from the reservation and the gifts we hope to leave in the future. 

Mitakuye Oyasin

Spend any time at all among the Lakota and you come across the phrase, mitakuye oyasin, (Mee-tah-koo-yay O-yah-seen).  The words mean, “we are all related”.  You hear it in the prayers and see it written in the artwork.  As we were leaving the rez, we even heard it on the radio station KILI, “the voice of Lakota nation.”  The DJ greeted his listeners with “good morning relatives.”  When the Lakota say, we are all related, they also include the earth and the four-footed and the winged creatures in that prayer for blessing and acknowledgement of gratitude. 

Mitakuye oyasin is a good place to start in reflecting on this trip.  Woods Around the World is a travel program that aims to cross borders and bridge gaps.  Together we venture out of our comfort zone and meander to another place and time.  I tell our students that one of the goals in our class is to learn to listen to a story other than our own, to actually see someone else, to hear their life speak, to gain appreciation for other peoples and cultures.  A few years ago, I came across this wisdom:

“The power of the mind is in perceiving differences;

the power of the heart is in perceiving similarities.”

When we leave the neighborhood and go elsewhere, the differences are easy to spot.  On Pine Ridge Reservation, the “long-haireds” look different.  They speak another language, beautiful to hear but foreign in sound.  Their living arrangements are noticeably different and they lack access to health care and jobs.   When we were leaving on Friday, the radio station announced that school was dismissed for “off-road” students.  The rains were so bad that they washed out the dirt roads, filling up the potholes and making it difficult to travel on the muddy roads.  Others have described life on the rez as a trip to a “third-world country inside a first-world nation”.  The differences are easy to spot.

And yet, making such trips as these, we learn there are important similarities, as well.  Spending time with one another, pausing long enough to listen, we discover that we have a lot in common.  We share similar values, cherish similar dreams, want some of the same things for our children and grandchildren. We laugh at a joke, come alive in play, are helped by the hands of another.  In the words of one Chippewa Indian, “You are like me; I am like you.”

Home from the Rez

Our group arrived home on Saturday night after a twelve hour drive.  With a busy week of long days and short nights, most of the team fell asleep in northern Nebraska.  While there at Re-member, there was little time to blog each day’s activities.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll add some reflections on this unforgettable trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation. 

Snapshop of Our Time on the Rez

Since our arrival, we have been busy on the Rez. We’ve sat in instructional sessions where we’ve learned wisdom from the Indian tradition. Local Lakota people tell us stories about the history of their land and people. We learn a little about spirituality, geology, politics, land management and sociology. Yesterday we visited the Wounded Knee Massacre site and hiked in the Badlands. Today we’ve been doing a variety of work projects throughout Pine Ridge. We take turns cooking and cleaning and try to catch the sunrise or sunset from high atop a nearby hill.

In a very short time, we’ve collected some wonderful experiences, met fascinating people and taken lots of photographs. Those stories will have to wait, however, until we have access to the Internet. Right now, we are strategically off the grid and only have access through our phone.

Road to the River

Yesterday we followed Lewis and Clark.  We began our day in Columbia and soon after, crossed the Missouri River in Rocheport.  We ended our day on the Missouri River in Chamberlain, South Dakota.  I had reserved rooms for us in a quaint riverside motel that faces west.  Having traveled I-90 numerous times, I have always loved the river valley at Chamberlain as the first real taste of the western landscapes.  The motel has two riverside gazebos and I was hoping that we could catch the sunset at the close of the day.  The forecast was promising.

On the drive up, we listened to a recycled playlist of music from the Top 40 charts of the past fifty years.  The list featured a few songs from the top ten of each year.  We started in 1955 with “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” and ended our day in the late 70s with the Bee Gees.  In between, we sang along to Elvis and the Beatles and The Rolling Stones.  The crosswinds in the Great Plains are known for being pretty fierce but I’m not sure if they were causing the van to sway or it was Tammy’s disco moves to “staying alive, staying alive, ah, ha, ha, ha, staying alive.” 

As we entered into South Dakota, we saw the first of the Wall Drug Store billboards. We then made a stop in Mitchell.  In previous years, Woods Around the World has seen some pretty spectacular places: Machu Picchu in Peru, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Colosseum in Rome and numerous castles and cathedrals.  But yesterday, we were able to tour the world’s one and only corn palace!  Can you believe it?  We got out of the car for a group photo and went inside to check out the place. 

I should also let you know that on these WATW trips we inevitably cross paths with someone unexpected.  Three years ago, we heard Reverend Joseph Lowery who was a guest preacher at Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta, Georgia.  Two years ago, it was Prince Charles and Camille in Warsaw, Poland.  Last night, we walked in to the Corn Palace – free, I should add – and learned they were getting ready for a concert by none other than Wayne Newton.  Courtney and Madeleine borrowed my camera and concocted a scheme to pretend they were reporters from the school newspaper and wanted a backstage interview before the concert started.  (Wherever do they get these notions?)  They made a promising start.  At the door, the first security man asked his supervisor.  The supervisor asked for their names to crosscheck them with his list.  But, alas, their names weren’t on there.  They were then asked in surprise, “You drove all the way from Missouri to attend this concert?”  They were so close. 

We got back on the interstate and played a guessing game.  “Does anyone know where this song is from?”

“I found out long ago, it’s a long way down the holiday road, holiday road, holiday road….”

The theme song from the movie,  National Lampoon’s Vacation, provided the backtrack for our journey west.  While headed to Chamberlain the sky was overcast.  I started to worry that we weren’t going to catch the sunset over the Missouri River.  Cyndi Elliott, our resident medicine woman who is skilled in the Native American way, told us to think “clear sky thoughts” .  Twenty miles down the road, I saw some the first band of sunlight on the distant horizon.  But it didn’t last very long.  It turns out, not all of us were following Cyndi’s orders and thinking of blue skies.  Tammy, I’m sure of it, was thinking about what she was going to buy at the trading post.  And so we were stuck with cloudy skies over the river. 

We ended our long driving day at Al’s Oasis.  We had the salad bar (with goolash and turkey vegetable soup) and some western cuisine, a 1/4 pound buffalo burger.  I even bought a western-style outdoor hat at a nearby store.  They say, “only a Greek fisherman should wear a Greek fisherman’s hat.”  But I left my hat in Missouri and the only other option to pick up a new one was a camouflage hat that said, “God, guns and guts made America great.”  I opted for the rancher’s hat. 

Our students are liking South Dakota.  We got a free admission into the Wayne Newton at the Corn Palace.  The coffee at Wall Drug Store is five cents.  The pop at Ray’s Store is ten cents.  Seems like the cost of living is just right.  (For the record, the highest gas price so far is $3.89.)

Today we make our way to the Black Hills region.  We stop at Wall Drug, drive through Badlands, see Crazy Horse monument, and head south to Pine Ridge Reservation.  Our time on the rez is rather busy and I’m not sure about internet access, but we’ll share stories when we can. 

When the Grass is So High

One of the classic works providing insight into the Indian mind is the book, Black Elk Speaks.  Published in 1932, the book tells the story of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux medicine man, or holy man.  Black Elk gave the gift of his story to John Neihardt, who had traveled to Pine Ridge Reservation to conduct research for a project he was working on.  Black Elk, previously reluctant to share his life story and his visions with others, looked at Neihardt and then turned to his translator and said, “I can feel in this man beside me a strong desire to know the things of the Other World.”

After that first meeting in the summer of 1930, Neihardt was told to return “in the spring when the grass is so high”.  In May of the following year, 1931, Neihardt began listening to Black Elk share the narrative of his life and the ways of the Lakota people.  Those words were recorded and translated and soon after, a classic of the 20th century was born.

Eighty years later to the month, we are heading to the land of Black Elk and the Oglala Lakota Sioux.  In preparation for our trip, we spent yesterday afternoon visiting with the youngest daughter of John Niehardt.  Alice will be ninety years old in August.  A strong and spirited woman, she continues to raise horses on the family farm.  She met with our group and read selections from Black Elk Speaks.  We got to thumb through the pages of a first edition book dedicated to her from her father: “For Alice, a good Indian, with love, from Daddy”.  Later, she recited a long and beautiful poem that her father had written when he was nineteen years old while living in Bancroft, Nebraska on the edge of the Omaha Reservation.  She said her father “was just like an old shoe” and “there was no pretense in him whatsoever.”  Our group appreciated her energy and enthusiasm.  At one point, Alice described the joy of living in these words:

“Give what you have to give every moment of every day even when it hurts to try.”